About

Pipeline

$144,893

pledged of $20,000 goal

2,234

backers

Over 2 years in the making and from first-time designer Ryan Courtney, Capstone Games is proud to publish its first original board game! Pipeline has been brought to life with beautiful illustrations and compelling graphic design from the masterful artistry of Ian O'Toole.

The refinement of oil has long been part of the government-controlled energy sector. Amassed with an incredibly complex and inefficient system of refineries, the government has felt the severe pressures of worldwide demand and the ever-increasing global standards for refinement. Unable to keep up with the demand, the government only has one option: privatizing the oil industry.

This is where you come in. Seeking to capitalize on this new opportunity, in Pipeline, you start a company in the oil business. You will focus on building a more efficient pipeline network in your refinery, hiring experts in their respective fields to provide valuable benefits over your competitors, as well as managing the logistics of purchasing and selling refined oil in the various markets to earn the most money in the game. You will need more than strong economic skills—carefully crafting an interweaving network of pipelines just might ensure your victory!

Pipeline - Middle of First Year

Pipeline is played over 3 years: 8 rounds in the first year, 6 rounds in the second year, and 4 rounds in the final year. During each round, a player's turn is comprised of 2 phases: the Work Phase and the Machine Phase. Due to the engine building nature of the game, players will be able to make most of their money in the final year, even though there are half as many rounds as compared to the first year. At the beginning of the second and third years, a Refresh Phase is conducted.

Starting the game with $40, you will take 1 action each round with your worker. You may place your worker on any action space, available Government Pipe tiles, or in your own pipe network to take the corresponding action. Please keep in mind that this is not a worker placement game: your worker is simply there to show you which secondary action is available to you.

Additionally, if you take one of the 8 actions on the game board, you may take a secondary action by paying $10 and moving your worker to the action space directly adjacent to your current space. This also allows you to adjust your turn order for the next round.

In the Machine Phase, you may run ALL of your machines in your pipe network! To do this, you pay $15 to activate all your machines. Each machine will run all Pipelines attached to it in the same manner as using a Worker Action.

At the beginning of the second and third years, players will carry out a Refresh phase which consists of updating Contracts, resupplying oil markets, discarding and refilling the Tank and Machine Shops, and refreshing the Upgrade Markers.

Please note: This rulebook is a working draft and will be completed by the end of this campaign.

All possible permutations of Pipe Tiles - 135 - included in the game! (No two tiles are the same!)

If you are familiar with products from Capstone Games, you are already expecting nothing but the best. For those new to Capstone Games, one of our core values is component quality. We always utilize high quality material to enhance the durability, feel, and enjoyment of our games. Pipeline is no exception. We are giving you every component in this game so you can play Pipeline the way it was designed to be played -- no stretch goals needed!

This includes the Pipe Tiles -- we are giving you all possible permutations of the Pipe Tiles in the game! That's 135 unique Pipe Tiles -- No two tiles are the same! A 4-player game will only see 80 Pipe Tiles or about 59% of the total Pipe Tiles provided with the game!

All cardboard components, including Player Mats, the Game Board, and the Box, will be constructed out of 2mm cardboard. The Upgrade and Valuation cards will be constructed of 300gsm linen finished cards. Our wooden components are designed to be large enough so players can easily handle the pieces while playing Pipeline.

We want you to have the best possible experience when playing, so we are using the best material for Pipeline!

New Player Boards

New Player Board Design

Ian has finished the design of the new player boards that feature the Pipe Length Track! When using cubes (in the retail edition), you would leave a cube on the 10 spot once you've passed a length of 10 and use a second cube to record anything over 10. This larger player board also allowed for a new space to place the Penalty cubes!

Kickstarter Exclusive - Pipe Length Tracker Disks

Each of the player boards will have a Pipe Length Track incorporated into them. This will help you keep track of the length of your longest runs in each of the 3 colors. The Pipe Tracker disks are a Kickstarter exclusive. In the retail version, players will use a cube on their Pipe Length Track.

Please note: The following videos showcase Pipeline in all its glory. However, the actual game being displayed is in prototype form: a hand-made factory prototype. The wooden pieces were sourced locally and do not represent the actual colors that will be in your copy.

We value the importance of Friendly Local Game Stores in this industry and are offering eligible brick and mortar retailers the opportunity to take part in this project! If you own a retail store, please email us at retail@capstone-games.com to learn how to back this project and verify your eligibility.

Due to our partnerships with fulfillment centers around the world, we are able to shoulder the burden of import taxes and Customs fees for you! We are pleased to provide VAT-free shipping to the following regions:

Pipeline will ship VAT-Free in the EU, USA, Canada, Austraila, and some countries in Asia!

The following countries in Asia ship VAT-Free:

China

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Japan

Macao

Malaysia

Philippines

Singapore

South Korea

Taiwan

Thailand

Our goal is to achieve a 6 month turnaround from project completion to fulfillment. Because of our expertise in this business, we successfully accomplished this with our previous project, The Estates. We will continue to provide the same level of service for this and all future projects.

To make this goal a reality, we will begin manufacturing in December, shortly after the conclusion of this Kickstarter, with product delivery to you in May 2019.

If you want to add an additional copy of Pipeline to your order, please add $54 to your pledge. The extra $5 for each copy is for the extra shipping costs incurred for the increased size and weight of the package. You may add up to 3 additional copies per pledge.

To ensure your copy comes with Metal Cubes, increase your total pledge by $15. If you are ordering multiple copies of Pipeline and want each copy to have the Metal Cubes, add $15 for each copy. There is no additional charge for shipping.

There are a total of 144 Metal Cubes:

44 for each of the 3 types of oil (total of 132)

12 Penalty cubes

All copies of Pipeline will come with the full allotment of wooden components. The Metal Cubes will come as a separate packet, outside of your game box.

Ryan Courtney is a New York City-based computer scientist and game designer who enjoys heavy Euro games with little to no randomness. Pipeline is Ryan's first officially published game design.

Ian O'Toole is an avid boardgamer and relishes the chance to use his skills to make a great game even better. A keen sense of genre and theme, as well as extensive gaming experience enable him to create a visually fluid and engaging experience. You can find all of his work by visiting his website: www.ianotoole.com

Travis D. Hill is a freelance board game rulebook editor, coffee connoisseur, corgi wrangler, and public high school educator. He co-hosts Low Player Count, a discussion-based podcast on 1-2 player board games. From crazy long wargames like Comancheria to interesting social outings like John Company all the way to super cool Japanese-inspired works like Tokyo Jidohanbaiki, you can find all of his past and current work here. After working on The Estates earlier this year, he is thrilled to work with Capstone on yet another project.

Josh McDowell started playing board games after his wife encouraged him to find an inexpensive hobby. The joke is on her, as that encouragement turned into an expansive collection and regular schedule of playing games with his friends. He turned to his graphic design skills to offset the costs and is now completely engrossed in all things board games. He lives in Indiana with his wife and three young children, gamers in the making. You can find his portfolio at behance.net/mcscowl.

Tim Kizer is a heavy game fan from Minnesota who has the rare desire to play the same game repeatedly, which is why he played a key role in play testing Pipeline in its development phase.

Clay Ross started Capstone Games in 2015 as an avenue to make hard to find heavy euro games widely available throughout the world.

Risks and challenges

Capstone Games has produced 10 games since its inception in 2015. We are partnered with professionals for the manufacturing, shipping, and fulfillment of our products, including Pipeline. We take our business seriously and will be fully transparent with you throughout the life of this project. We are experienced in mitigating the possible delays that can happen at the factory and during shipping. If there are delays of any kind, they will be communicated to you immediately.

Our goal is to achieve a 6 month turnaround from project completion to fulfillment. Because of our expertise in this business, we successfully accomplished this with our previous project, The Estates. We will continue to provide the same level of service for this and all future projects.

To make this goal a reality, we will begin manufacturing in December, shortly after the conclusion of this Kickstarter, with product delivery to you in May 2019.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 49 or more
About US$ 49

Local Pickup

Pickup your copy of Pipeline from the Capstone Games warehouse in Clayton, OH. We are located near the Dayton Airport. We will notify you when your copy is available for pickup, including address and hours of operation.